Warlock talents
Starting at level 10, a Warlock can begin spending talent points to gain new abilities and spells, strengthen existing abilities, and specialize how he/she functions. See the entry on Talents for more information about the Talent system. Warlock Talents have undergone significant changes with the 1.6 patch. Some level-60 talent builds have become quite popular among Warlocks. There's a tendency to describe talent builds with the names of their highest-tier talents, or by the numbers of points spent in each tree (30/0/21 means 30 points in Affliction, no points in Demonology, and 21 points in Destruction); the trees are listed in alphabetical order, which is the order in which they appear in the game. Also, there are usually many options available on the way to the top-tier talents; there can be many variations of these depending on each Warlock's individual taste and style. See also: * [http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=I Warlock Talent Calculator at Wowhead] *Warlock talent calculator at the official site. *Warlock talent calculator at Thottbot.com *Warlock talent calculator at Panda Hideout. *Warlock talent calculator at merciless-gilde.com. Burning Crusade Expansion Burning Crusade Warlock talent preview calculator Talents Tables Warlocks have 3 talent trees: Affliction, Demonology, and Destruction. Starting at lvl 10 a warlock can put points in these to improve certain aspects of his profession. Affliction The Affliction tree gives a Warlock more powerful curses and drains, better DoT ability, and in the end more powerful Shadow spells in general as well as a new way of recovering mana. There's also an additional DoT that heals the caster and a new curse. Look and Feel Affliction Warlocks are the masters of killing an opponent at a distance while someone else does all the heavy lifting. With spells like Siphon Life and Drain Life, even your opponent helps you out a bit. Affliction warlocks are patient folk with some even taking a load off while their DoTs kill their target who is presently engaged with the Warlock's Voidwalker. Some fights can take long enough to resolve, the Warlock's mana has regenerated by the time the enemy keel over dead. Strengths * Efficiency: While it is possible to finish a fight quickly, you don't have to. You also don't want to, because you're thinking ahead to the next fight, and the one after that. After applying DoTs, an Affliction Warlock will alternate Life Tap and Drain Life instead of using Shadow Bolt to help speed up the impending doom of your target. With Improved Life Tap and Improved Drain Life, you will net positive gains in both health and mana, all while doing around the same damage as a single Shadow Bolt. Doing this takes longer (6-7 seconds for the combo vs 3 seconds for Shadow Bolt), but you will be able to jump right into the next fight with no hesitation. * Strong Vs. Adds: Because many of a Warlock's Affliction spells are of the "fire and forget" variety, a second or third mob will directly multiply your DPS. While you have to worry about pulling aggro off of your pet in these cases, Fear will allow you to juggle adds rather than having them do anything inconvenient like hitting you. * Usually Have More: Affliction Warlocks are most effective when they take their time. This means that in a pinch you have a lot more where everything came from. If your pet is taking more damage than feels safe you can start spamming Shadow Bolts. By the time your pet dies/loses aggro, the mob is either dead or is very close. * Strong Vs. Elites: Unless something is immune to Fear, if an Affliction Warlock can't kill it, no one can. This is done through Fear kiting, in which a Warlock keeps a target Feared while their DoTs slowly but surely drain away the target's life. * DoT-and-Kite: Even if something is immune to Fear, if an Affliction Warlock puts talent points into Curse of Exhaustion and Improved Curse of Exhaustion, then they can defeat any melee elite not immune to slowing effects. DoTs are applied while running the target around beyond melee range. Even some mobs immune to slowing effects can be killed through clever use of terrain and line of sight. * High "Fault Tolerance": For those of you non-nerds, that means lots of stuff can go wrong before you reach total failure (in the case of a Warlock, death). One of your DoTs get resisted? No big deal, cast it again. Get an add? Or two? You can handle it. Pet miss a taunt? You're always near full health, so you can take a few shots before he gets aggro back. Pet about to die? You can hit Sacrifice and finish off the battle from behind your nice new shield or run for the hills. For other classes, when a battle goes horribly wrong, it usually means their death. For an Affliction Warlock, it usually means you just have to re-summon your pet. Weaknesses * Vulnerable to Dispels: In PvP, if it can cure enemies of your DoTs it can usually do it far more efficiently than you can put them back on. In general, UI Mods like Decursive will completely invalidate any kind of use an Affliction Warlock might have in PvP. However, individual opponents can only dispel either magic effects or curses, but Affliction Warlocks can cast both types, meaning that they can still be somewhat effective. Fortunately Unstable Affliction in the expansion should help with this matter. * Vulnerable in PvP: Affliction Warlocks don't kill fast. That means that if something with good burst damage like a Mage or a Rogue gets you in their sights, there isn't much you can do about it except die. * Weak in Groups/Instances: Virtually none of the spells an Affliction Warlock normally uses work fast enough to be effective in a group situation. Group members will be glad you're there to pass out Healthstones and keep enemies from running away with Curse of Recklessness, but you may find yourself simply spamming Shadow Bolts most of the time. Analysis Some of the Affliction talents are better than others. The following is intended to be a consensus of opinion on the various talents in this tree. * Suppression - The PvP argument calls for 2 points at level 60. More points are only useful against mobs/players that are higher than you. (See Formulas:Spell hit chance for detailed information.) * Improved Corruption - 5 points makes Corruption Instant-cast. Incredibly useful, and all Warlocks with any points in the Affliction tree usually max out this skill. Like Curse of Agony, an instant-cast Corruption can be cast while moving, and without facing the opponent. * Improved Curse of Weakness - At level 60, 2 points here will reduce a mob's damage per hit by a mere 6 extra points. On mobs that hit in the hundreds to thousands of damage, it's completely unnoticeable. There are usually much better places to spend points. * Improved Drain Soul - Only worth taking if you solo exclusively, as the Warlock has to get the killing blow for it to proc. Recommended if you use the Voidwalker a lot. For the first 5 seconds, you only regen 50% (as you're under the 5-second rule). Very little benefit unless your gear is specced for spirit rather than stamina. * Improved Life Tap - Arguably one of the best talents for warlocks; it increases the efficiency of your health to mana conversion by a whopping 20%. At level 60, this will increase your Life Tap mana gain from 426 to 511.2. Free mana is always good. * Improved Drain Life - This bonus does not scale with +damage gear, so at level 60 it will only give you an extra 35 points for a full Drain Life cast. 5 talent points for 35 damage (and 35 health) in 5 seconds is usually not as good as some of the other places you can place points. However, it is an important investment for the drain tanking build. * Improved Curse of Agony - This also does not scale with gear, and will provide a flat increase of 62 damage at level 60. And that's only if the spell lasts its full 24 second duration. Generally not worth investing in. * Fel Concentration - Makes drain tanking viable, which is generally considered the fastest way to level. It can also make it easier to collect shards. Most Warlocks max this talent. * Amplify Curse - Has a very fast cooldown, and greatly increases the power of your next curse. For 1 point, it's a great spend. * Grim Reach - Great for PvP (it increases Fear range as well), and arguable for group PvE. More range always has utility. In raids, the power enables you to attack from outside of AOE range of a boss. Solo, your drain spells will break on feared mobs less often. Most Warlocks that spend 20 points in Affliction pick up this talent. * Nightfall - This will give its chance to proc on each tick of Corruption and Drain Life (although in 1.10 it seems to not work on Drain Life). Very powerful in PvP, although its relatively low chance to trigger makes it an occasional bonus, rather than something that can be tactically relied on. In mass PVP, warlocks with this talent will often cast Corruption on many players at once to increase the chance of this talent procing. Many builds are built around this talent, as a player can get this and the Soul Link or Conflagrate talents. Keep in mind, however, that Shadow Bolts are not mana-efficient -- but it's useful when you need to kill something fast, an aspect that the Affliction tree does not otherwise enhance. * Improved Drain Mana - Drain Mana already has limited usefulness, and this talent does not make it better enough to warrant its use. Previously, the damage from Improved Drain Mana was subject to bonuses from +dmg gear. With sufficient +dmg gear, Improved Drain Mana became a superior source of "free dps" than a wand. However, this functionality was removed. Now, most Warlocks skip this talent. * Siphon Life - For one point, it's gold dust. SM/Ruin 'locks see this as extra mana. * Curse of Exhaustion - Highly situational, but very powerful when it does apply. It's very weak without at least a couple points in its Improvement talent, since the default only reduces the opponent's movement speed by 10% (and only one curse can be applied at a time). * Improved Curse of Exhaustion - If you're going to get Curse of Exhaustion, get 3 or 4 points here as well. * Shadow Mastery - Scales with gear, so it will stack with nearly every spell you'll want to cast if you are this far up the tree. More life, damage and mana for you. Several builds are built around this talent. * Dark Pact - Considered great for leveling, but many Warlocks spec out of it at level 60 (since one can get Demonic Sacrifice or Ruin instead). Useful source of mana (250 points at level 60), and often used with the Imp pet in high level dungeons. Demonology The Demonology tree gives a Warlock more powerful demons and conjured Stones, as well as more stamina and some buffs that take effect when the demon isn't present. It also increases the effectiveness of enslaved Demons and end-game summons, and in the end there's a new way to make the Warlock very hard to kill. Look and Feel A Demonology Warlock will function better in conjunction with their Demon minion, produce more effective stones for themselves and party members, and are more likely to survive combat through damage reduction and higher stamina. Very dangerous in PvP situations, as they have one of the highest damage tolerances of any class when soul linked. Unlike warriors, ALL damage, including magic, is cut by 30%, as well as an additional 10% physical if you have your Voidwalker out. This doesn't limit a Warlocks offensive ability in the same way that defensive stance limits a Warrior in the same situations. Master Demonologist ensures that you can fill a variety of roles. Instances and PvE situations will be easier. Strengths * Better Health, Fire and Spell stones. * More effective Demons, including higher damage, more mana, more HP, quicker speeds, and shorter cooldowns. * The Master Demonologist effect, which, based on the current summoned Demon, can reduce incoming damage, reduce threat generation, increase all spell damage, or increase resistances. * Can outlast most enemies in PvP with the reduced damage of Soul Link and the life regeneration of Drain Life and Death Coil. Weaknesses * Overall low burst damage, making PvP fights endurance tests rather than spamfests. * Higher HP is offset by standard DPS, meaning you will live longer but your life means less. * Loss of your Demon can screw you pretty badly * Lack of burst damage means fights with classes like Paladins and Shadow priests are extremely difficult and a challenge of your PvP skill. Analysis Some of the Demonology talents are better than others. The following is intended to be a consensus of opinion on the various talents in this tree. *Improved Healthstone - More bang for your buck, since healthstones are on a different timer than health potions, makes you even harder to kill. *Improved Imp - This talent is normally taken for the bonus it gives to the Imp's blood pact spell; the other bonuses are generally considered negligible. *Demonic Embrace - 15% stamina increases your health from buffs as well as armor, oftentimes pushing STM geared warlocks above 6k health. *Improved Health Funnel - A bit of a double-edged sword, providing a poor improvement on an already poor ability. *Improved Voidwalker - Improves the Voidwalker's tanking ability significantly. In PvP situations vs. enemies who can't dispel, getting through the improved sacrifice damage shield is a truly grueling prospect. At high levels this can be as much as 2k, and of course you can always resummon... *Fel Intellect - Much more useful for a Dark Pact Warlock, or someone with improved Lash of Pain or Improved Firebolt. *Improved Succubus - The utility of this talent is questionable. The bonuses to soothing kiss and lesser invisibility are extremely limited, since soothing kiss is typically almost never used by warlocks, and lesser invisibility costs a relatively minute amount of mana at level sixty, and is on a timer. The bonuses to seduction and lash of pain are also somewhat limited, since seduction rarely lasts the full 15 seconds and, thus, rarely has its duration lengthened by this talent; and a 30% improvement to damage caused by lash of pain generally wouldn't cause any noticeable dps change. *Fel Domination - Generally taken with master summoner, (see below). Demonology warlocks use this combination to switch demons in the heat of battle, which is all but impossible for warlocks without these two talents. *Fel Stamina - *Master Summoner - This can be considered to be more useful than Fel Domination, since it provides a flat bonus to every summon, and not just an ability on a 15 minute cooldown that does the same. However, there is a strong synergy between these two talents, allowing players to switch pets or replace a lost pet almost instantly. For example, a player in a defensive posture might sacrifice his voidwalker, then immediately summon another. *Unholy Power - This is considered a staple talent. DPS pets like the succubus benefit directly, while tanking pets have a noticeable improvement in their aggro-holding power. *Improved Enslave Demon - Unless you plan on making enslaving demons the point of your Warlock's existence, points are better spent elsewhere. It should be noted that enslaved demons are generally considered to be extremely unreliable, even with this talent. *Demonic Sacrifice - This is a talent you should use if you don't have a voidwalker out and your pet is going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. If you have a voidwalker you should just sacc and shield that is more useful but for any other pet you should use this instead of just letting it die and getting nothing. It's also good in raids in instances where you're raid doesn't force you to keep your imp out and when pets aren't that useful. *Improved Firestone - Unless you have Conflagrate (in which case, you don't have enough points to learn this as well), fire isn't a huge component of your damage output, and the boost from this is not great. Also, you are not likely to be using firestones anyway, improved or not. Avoid. *Master Demonologist - This talent allows a demonologist warlock extreme versatility. It allows him to drop aggro somewhat consistently, increase damage output, or reduce damage taken by either spellcasters or warrior/rogue type enemies. It should be noted that the damage reduction one gains against spells is widely considered to be significant, although it's difficult to get any concrete numbers on the matter. *Soul Link - This talent really allows warlocks to take a beating. With this talent, the voidwalker master demonologist bonus and demon armor, warlocks get a damage reduction from physical attacks of upwards of 60%, a statistic normally reserved for wearers of plate. And, with the felhunter master demonologist bonus, warlocks have been known to take less than 800 damage from a PvP encounter with full-health mages. It should be stated, however, that this spell is almost worthless in conjunction with the imp; that demon dies from taking the damage from soul link. *Improved Spellstone - Spellstones strip beneficial effects (like Demon Skin) as well as detrimental ones, and are on the same timer as healthstones. They also prevent the use of staffs. Avoid. Destruction Destruction offers Warlocks the opportunity to do truly horrendous damage to their foes, although it is mostly Fire damage. There are talents to increase the speed at which your pets attack here, as well as to improve your damage-dealing spells, their chances to get critical effects, and the damage done when critical effects occur. Look and Feel The two words you must remember when thinking of Destruction Warlocks are: "Burst" and "Damage". That's what Destruction Warlocks are good at. Actually, it's really all they're good at. Where an Affliction Warlock couldn't kill a Rat quickly if he needed to, high level Destruction Warlocks can take out non-elite enemies three levels above them in very short order. Strengths * Burst Damage: The Damage numbers near the end of the Destruction tree are somewhat misleading. While the damage on Conflagrate might look a little low, and you might think that sacrificing a couple of DoT ticks on an Immolate might be a waste with it not doing much damage anyway, you have to remember that the initial damage on both spells get significantly enhanced by talents before hand (Immolate gets increased by 35%!), and with Ruin when they crit, they crit hard. * Try this for some PvP fun! Seduce, lay Curse of Elements, go to maximum range, cast Soul Fire, while Soul Fire is en route, cast Immolate; they should hit about the same time. If either crits, your target is in a lot of trouble (thanks to Ruin) and will normally panic. You now have 5 instant cast spells you can unleash on them, 2 DOTs (CoA and improved Corruption if you have it)) and 3 burst damage spells (Shadowburn, Conflag and Death Coil), and you can charge or retreat at your leisure. Add insult to injury by using Drain Soul to replace the shard you used on Soul Fire! * At the End of the Day, You're Still a Warlock: If you take away a Rogue's weapons, there isn't much left of him besides Sap and some second rate DoTs. Take away a Destruction Warlock's fire damage, and he still has quite a bit to work with. Take him into Molten Core, and he can still throw around Shadow Bolts. Take away the Destruction tree, and they can still contribute to the raid with the single most versatile selection of Curses in the game. Weaknesses * Can't Summon Water: Where an Affliction Warlock somewhat resembles a camel and can go for days without a drink, Destruction Warlocks suck down fluids like a dry sponge in a desert. Your mana bar is evil and it hates you. Don't ever forget that, and you had better learn the tavern keepers' on a first name basis. In fact, your Morning Glory Dew account will probably be putting your favorite tavern keeper's kids through school. * They LOVE Fire!: Fire immunity is a terrible thing. Considering the majority of the damage you deal will be coming from your enhanced Immolate and Conflagrate spells (we're talking about Destruction Warlocks here, not SM/Ruin Warlocks), fire immunity will cut the damage you deal in excess of 2000 points with those two spells alone. * Can't Effectively Use Pet: With the Destruction style of play, there's no way to effectively use your pet to manage aggro or really do anything other than add more damage. * Anything You Can Do...: If all you want to do is burst damage, a Mage is superior in every way. They have much higher damage output, much longer range, much better mana management, and much better escape abilities. Analysis Some of the destruction talents are better than others. The following is intended to be a consensus of opinion on the various talents in this tree. *Improved Shadow Bolt - Whenever you spam shadow bolts, you must have this talent. Even with a low crit rate, this talent shines as a big additional damage bonus. *Cataclysm - Not worth it for anyone but full Dest. But full dest warlocks will only rarely use Shadow Bolt, so this may be a better choice. *Bane - Mages buy Imp Fireball at same talent point cost. You get the same benefit to Shadow Bolt AND this cuts Immolate down to the global cool down time AND cuts Soul Fire down from 6 to 4 seconds! Quite possibly the best Tier 2 talent points you'll ever spend! *Aftermath - A small chance of a snare effect. Points probably better spent on Bane. Possibly useful with a Searing Pain combat kiting build, since the idea is to keep the mobs running around. Unlike Bane, the Mage equivalent is far better (it stuns and is at Tier 1!) *Improved Firebolt - This provides a small improvement to the Imp's DPS, but doesn't make him any more mana efficient. So, he'll do the same damage as before, just faster. If you rely on the Imp to bring down targets, or use his increased rate of fire to control disruption-based opponents (Rogues) in PvP, this might be worth it. Otherwise, spend points elsewhere. *Improved Lash of Pain - A very specific talent. It's great if it fits your playing style, but completely useless otherwise. *Devastation - You need it for Ruin, and if you want to even start thinking about matching a Mage for DPS. *Shadowburn - Instant damage, more powerful than Shadow Bolt, and with 1.9 out, even more likely to return the shard. Worth the point without question. Excellent finisher. *Intensity - If you want to AoE, you probably want this talent. Also makes Soul Fire more viable as an in your face spell, when counting interrupts and Bane. *Destructive Reach - Not bad, but even a fully dest Warlock will normally open up with an Affliction spell. This talent is very important for PvP. *Improved Searing Pain - Use Searing Pain when you want to draw hate, so these points can work for you if you want to get the most out of the spell, since crits draw tremendous hate. Also good in PvP. *Pyroclasm - While a popular talent, some think it doesn't proc often enough to be worth the points. Note that the 26% is over the entire duration of the spell. *Improved Immolate - Ups Immolate's already impressive damage, but not by enough to really make it worth it. This is the primary reason many Warlocks stop at Ruin, since you must take this to gain Conflagrate. This high up a tree, you expect better. *Ruin - The primary reason to delve into the destruction tree. *Emberstorm - Again very poor unless you use a lot of fire... but if you are this far up the tree you will be! Be sure to discover the most effective use of all of your fire spells if you have this. *Conflagrate - A very under-rated talent. Efficient and instant cast. Its crits are very scary in PvP, and completes the Warlock's Unholy Trinity of Instant Cast Death. Popular builds *SM/Ruin *SM/DS *MD/Ruin *Petless DS/Ruin *Heavy Destruction Category:Warlocks Category:Talents